


Nesting

by Headfulloffantasies



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Jedi, Kids, ManDadLorain, The Darksaber, luke's jedi academy, monster hunting, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29934963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Headfulloffantasies/pseuds/Headfulloffantasies
Summary: Something was stalking Skywalker’s Jedi Academy. Din saw its lanky shape from the sky as he brought his ship to land beside the garden patch. It lumbered away, a huge shadow vanishing beyond the tomato plants into the trees.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 34





	Nesting

Something was stalking Skywalker’s Jedi Academy. Din saw its lanky shape from the sky as he brought his ship to land beside the garden patch. It lumbered away, a huge shadow vanishing beyond the tomato plants into the trees. 

Din inquired about it immediately to Skywalker. 

Skywalker sighed. He held Kat, his newest recruit, on his lap. She played with the edges of his cape. “Yes, I’ve seen the creature for the last few weeks. It killed some of our animals.”

“What have you done about it?” Din demanded. It looked like a massive mountain lion. If the creature was bold enough to attack penned animals next to a settlement, it wouldn’t hesitate to kill a child.

“It knows me,” Skywalker answered. “It runs when I get close.”

Well, it didn’t know Din. “I’ll handle it,” he promised.

The creature proved wily. It moved silently on padded feet over the dry leaves between the trees. It hid in the treetops when Din finally got a bead on its footprints. Din came to the end of its trail and pulled up short. He could see the Jedi school through the gaps in the foliage. The kids were playing a game in the grass. If the creature had gotten this close in broad daylight then Din needed to eliminate it fast. 

A huge weight dropped onto Din’s back. He slammed into the ground. His teeth clacked together. Claws screeched over his beskar backplate, shredding his cloak. The creature growled, frustrated at the shell its prey had encased itself in. The stench of its foul breath penetrated Din’s helmet.

Din couldn’t roll over with the creature’s paws pinning him to the ground. He activated his flamethrower. The creature leaped away from the fire Din threw over his shoulder. Din pulled himself to his knees. He reached for his holster. A massive paw swiped at his chest. Din tumbled backwards, crashing out of the trees into the blinding sunlight. For a second he lay still on his back while his lungs remembered how to inhale.

A shrill scream sent Din into overdrive. He stumbled to his feet. He stood between the creature and the children. He would not let the monster get past him. Din freed his blaster. The creature prowled the edge of the trees. Its poisonous yellow eyes narrowed at Din. Its haunches bunched, prepared to pounce.

Din set his feet. The monster leaped. Din shot. One two three. The blaster bolts caught the creature in its soft underbelly. It smashed into the ground; all the power leeched from its muscles. Din advanced warily. It looked dead; its fur singed where Din had shot it. He put another blaster bolt through its head just to make sure.

“Woah.” 

The voice startled Din. He hadn’t heard the huddle of kids approach. They clung to each other and stared at the creature’s body. The smallest one turned her wide eyes on Din. Fear filled her tiny face.

Din held his breath. He’d never used his weapons in front of the children before. He’d never hurt anything in front of them. Were they afraid he’d hurt them next?

“That was so cool!” Holden, the oldest child pumped his fist. “You were like blam, blam!” Holden mimed shooting a gun and making blaster noises. “And the thing was like- ugh.” He flopped on the ground with his tongue hanging out. The other kids giggled.

Din watched this dramatic re-enactment in bewilderment. They weren’t scared. The kids crowded closer. Din had to stop them from poking the dead monster.

“It might have parasites,” he explained lamely. 

“Can I try your blaster?” Holden asked.

Din’s mind went blank. How young was too young for a blaster? His own education held no answers. He’d been years behind his fellow clanmates as a child. His earliest memories of the covert blurred with indistinct impressions of struggling to learn Mando’a and spending most of his training with children younger than himself. His buir hadn’t meant to isolate him from his peers, but Din couldn’t be expected to hold his own against kids he couldn’t speak to and who’d known how to kill a man by age six. Instead, Din’s buir had spent long hours training Din himself to make up the lost time. Din shot his first blaster at age nine, but he knew his peers of the same age could sharpshoot at fifty paces.

Din looked Holden up and down. He was one of the older Jedi trainees. Twelve? Ten? Old enough, Din decided.

Tatiana piped up. “I want to learn too.”

Absolutely not. Thank the stars for sending this child to remind him what a horrible idea a kid with a blaster was. Tatiana could not be counted to carry a tray of food across the room without spilling it. She could not handle a weapon. And if she couldn’t, then it wasn’t fair to let any other kids try.

So how to appease a gaggle of children? Din lied through his teeth.

“I promised Grogu I’d teach him before anyone else.”

Everyone collectively groaned. The blaster weighed more than Grogu did. They all knew it would probably be another fifty years before the youngling could even hold the weapon without toppling over. 

“Why don’t you ask Master Skywalker to teach you his lightsword?” Din suggested. That would keep the kids off his back for a while. 

Din shooed the kids back to their classes and spent the afternoon dragging the corpse into the forest to bury it. 

He came back at sunset, sweaty, exhausted, and hungry. Skywalker intercepted him at the ramp of his ship.

“Thank you for handling the beast,” Luke said. “The kids are all buzzing about it.”

Din shrugged. He’d only protected his son. It was nothing to get excited about.

“The kids keep asking for you,” Luke continued. “Will you join us for dinner?”

Din had planned on showering and having his own meal before fetching Grogu for a quiet night. But he supposed he owed the kids for scaring them in the first place. 

“Alright,” Din nodded.

“I have to warn you,” Skywalker said. “Ivy has started asking Why.”

“Why what?”

Skywalker sighed. “Why everything.”

Din did not know which slimy child was named Ivy. If he had, he might have avoided the headache.

“Why do you have armour at dinner?” The little one with curly hair sitting beside Grogu asked.

Din startled a little bit. The kids normally didn’t bother him during their evening meal. They ate quickly so they could go out and play before bedtime. The rows of tables for the communal meal were loud, but mostly focused on scarfing down the rice and vegetables.

This child held her spoon clutched in her fist and smeared sauce all over her face. She stared up at Din, waiting for his answer.

“I always wear my armour,” Din explained.

She nodded and went back to moving her rice into piles on her plate. 

Grogu babbled and held out a piece of vegetable for Din. He took it politely and waited until Grogu wasn’t looking to sneak it back onto his plate.

“Why do you have buttons on your clothes?” The girl asked.

Din looked down at his vambraces. “They’re controls.”

“Why?”

Something clicked. “Are you Ivy?”

She nodded. 

Din sighed in the privacy of his helmet. “The buttons control lots of things. Weapons, my ship, Grogu’s bassinet.”

Grogu cooed at his name. 

“Why?”

“I don’t understand,” Din admitted. “What are you asking?”

“Why are the buttons on your arms?” Ivy demanded. 

“That’s where it goes.” Din answered.

“Why?”

“Why what? You can see this is where it is. There is no why.”

She cocked her head. Got you there, kiddo.

“Why not?”

Dank ferrick.

Luke swooped to the rescue. “Ivy, you haven’t finished eating. Save your questions for after dinner, okay?”

“Okay.” Ivy scooped up some rice and spilled half of it in her lap on the way to her mouth. 

Din retired to his ship after the meal. Grogu went straight into his hammock above Din’s berth. The kid snuggled into his blanket and fell fast asleep. Din spent some time going over a few minor repairs. Din finally gave in to the call of his bunk.

Din removed his cloak first. He hung it on the hook on the wall. He wiggled his hands out his gloves. He unstrapped his vambraces and the pauldrons followed quickly. Din kicked off his boots. He reached to free his blaster holster from his belt. He checked over the weapon and laid it on top of the growing pile of beskar. Din reached for the Darksaber dangling from the other side of his belt. 

It wasn’t there. 

Din froze. The clip where the Darksaber usually hung was empty. No ancient Jedi sword presented itself. Din turned a confused circle, searching to see if he’d dropped it. Nothing. 

Ice ran down Din’s spine. He checked under the bunk, and on all the shelves. No Darksaber. He opened the berth door and checked where he’d been working. 

Din tore the ship apart. He stood in the middle of the carnage with his hands on his hips.

Dank ferrick. Din had to admit the Darksaber was not aboard his ship. He sighed to the heavens. 

Din grumbled as he tugged his half-removed armour back on. He stomped out of the ship and headed back to the Jedi Academy.

Din moved silently through the slumbering school. He knocked softly on a door at the end of the hall.

The door slid back. A disheveled Luke Skywalker blinked up at Din. 

“What’s wrong?” The Jedi asked. 

“I lost the Darksaber,” Din confessed.

“Congratulations,” Luke yawned.

“No, I lost it. I can’t find it,” Din explained.

“Oh kriff.” Luke shook himself awake. “Where?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, let’s start looking.” Luke grabbed a cape to cover his soft sleeping robes. “Kriff only knows what will happen if one of the kids finds it.”

They searched all night. Luke used his magic powers to listen for its frequency or whatever the kriff Jedi did. To no avail. Din retraced his steps all the way to the dead beast’s final resting place. He drew the line at digging the creature up. 

The sun pinked the horizon by the time Din stumbled back to the school. The kids would wake for their morning meditation soon. Din needed to head back to his ship and fetch Grogu. 

Din lifted his head. He startled. Grogu moved across the school yard in the pale light. He dragged a screwdriver along the ground behind him. It was such a bizarre sight that Din didn’t immediately call out to his son. Grogu moved intently to the side of the building. He stopped and peeked his fuzzy head around the corner. Satisfied, Grogu shuffled out of sight. The screwdriver left a furrow in the dirt behind him.

Din followed Grogu at a distance. The kid waddled out back to the vegetable patch. He passed into the squash plants and vanished. 

Din experienced a mini heart attack, thinking Grogu had fallen in a hole. He hurried forward. Din pulled back one of the massive green leaves. Din let out a surprised laugh.

“Luke,” Din shouted. “I found it.”

“What in the stars is a lightsaber doing in the pumpkins?” Luke came trundling up beside him. He peered over Din’s shoulder.

Grogu squeaked at being discovered. He sat on a pile of pilfered items half covered in dirt. The hilt of the Darksaber poked out of the ground. A single boot Din assumed belonged to Luke flopped on top of an empty box of crackers. Other bits and bobs stacked on top of each other in some kid of nest Grogu had assembled. Grogu gripped the screwdriver like a weapon. His wrinkled face scowled at his father and teacher.

Din and Luke laughed. 

“Come here, womp rat,” Din lifted Grogu. He squealed, wriggling to free himself and get back to his treasure trove. 

“Is that my boot?” Luke poked at the collection. Grogu whined. 

Din held his son at eye level. “This is stealing. We don’t steal.” He faced Luke. “I’m sorry. He knows better.”

Luke tugged the Darksaber out of the mess. “Well, I suppose there’s no harm done. So long as it doesn’t happen again.” The Jedi held eye contact with Grogu. The child huffed a grumble. 

“Hey,” Din admonished.

Grogu pinned his ears back, but he relented and gave Luke a nod. 

Luke beamed. “Good. All better.” 

Luke extended the Darksaber to Din. “I believe this belongs to you.”

“Nope.” Din backed away. “I lost it. It’s yours now.”

Luke squawked. “That’s not how it works. Take it.”

“No, thank you.” Din spun on his heel and walked away. He heard Luke chasing. Din broke into a run.

“Hey!” Luke shouted. “Get back here!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment


End file.
